


Take a Third Option

by Misscar



Series: The Idiot's Guide to Multi-species Polyamorous Relationships [1]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, BAMF Uhura, Creative problem-solving, Emotional Hurt, F/M, Kelvin Timeline, M/M, Multi, Post Star Trek: Into Darkness, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, Strong Nyota, Temporary Character Death, Threesome - F/M/M, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Women Being Awesome, it's complicated - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-31
Updated: 2013-07-17
Packaged: 2017-12-13 13:31:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/824839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Misscar/pseuds/Misscar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The most important thing Nyota has learned from Jim Kirk was there was always a third option, no matter how dire the situation was and the current situation was dire. Right now, she has to figure out how to deal with the ultimate romantic no-win scenario of her boyfriend being in love with Jim Kirk in a non-platonic way. Takes place during the end of STID.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part One: Nyota’s No-win scenario

**Author's Note:**

> This story contains major spoilers for Star Trek Into Darkness
> 
> After watching the new movie, I came to the conclusion that the film only makes sense if Spock is completely in love with Jim. That is the only logical explanation for him being jealous of Carol and his Vulcan equivalent of a nervous breakdown. Nyota is a brilliant strong woman and I know that she would not be oblivious to this. There are normally two options at a time like this, break up or figure out how to work through the emotional infidelity (that scene was just chopped full of emotional infidelity). It’s more complicated when the person your boyfriend is kind of sort of in love with is someone that you care about too. However, thanks to Jim Kirk’s good (or maybe bad) influence Nyota is willing to find another solution for this romantic no-win scenario. 
> 
> A/N: I’m going by memory, so I may have a couple of things wrong. I also find it deeply ironic that I did not cry when I was watching that scene (Okay, I may have been yelling at the screen ‘really, just friends, really’,) but I started choking up so much when writing this story that I couldn’t keep dictating.  
> Thank you to teddy bear for proofreading, all remaining mistakes are mine and I will most likely blame those mistakes on my voice recognition software.(Update 6/21: Also thank you to Khashan for proofreading the revised version.)  
> Disclaimer: If I own Star Trek, Jim would have been doing Spock (and maybe Nyota too) in that scene, instead of the kitten twins. Also, there would have been enough Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto gratuitous underwear scenes to make you not care about the ridiculousness of Alice Eve in her underwear later on. Obviously, there were no women in the writing room. Therefore, I don't own anything.

Nyota was a smart and strong woman. She knows dozens of languages, can bluff Klingons, and shoots indestructible adversaries at point-blank range without breaking a sweat. She also knows when she is in a completely double fucked situation and right now when it comes to her relationship with Spock, she was completely screwed, no matter what choice she made.

She and Spock have been together for nearly three years, despite the complications of the last year. He has been keeping her at arm's length since his mother's death and the destruction of Vulcan. Half the time, she thinks he was suicidal. He said that he cared, but she's not always sure. Still, he's trying and that's all she can ask for. He drove her absolutely crazy, but she still loves him, sometimes. He frustrated her beyond belief, but, according to an old earth song,* that was a sign of true love. She still loved him despite the days when he was a complete asshole, and her life really would suck without him.

However, she realized there was a problem when she came to the conclusion that Jim felt exactly the same way she did about Spock. There were both days when they both wanted to simultaneously hug and punch the guy. It was almost as if Jim was dating Spock too. They bickered like they were dating sometimes (okay, all the time). She thought that the old earth term 'work husband' kind of applied to the situation, except maybe it was more than that. She knew that the tension between Jim and Spock had this sexual edge. She was pretty sure that she has caught Jim Kirk staring at her boyfriend's ass on more than one occasion (and possibly vice versa). She easily dismissed it because she has also caught Jim staring at her ass on more than one occasion (and possibly vice versa but she will never admit to that ever).

She didn't consider it a serious problem originally because of Jim's crappy reputation. Jim does not do relationships (monogamy) and Spock does not fuck around. When people say Jim Kirk will sleep with anyone, they really do mean anyone, and he left a trail of angry females (and contrary to popular assumption, some males) behind to prove it from various planets throughout the galaxy. She lost a Romulan expert because Jim fucked the guy and didn't call the next day, sometime at the Academy, and he pretty much refused to work on a ship run by Jim Kirk. (Apparently, something similar happened with a prospective nurse, if Enterprise gossip was correct). Jim Kirk wanted to sleep with everybody, but that's just part of who he was. The man did not fall in love. It wasn't even in his vocabulary, supposedly. (Of course, Jim hasn't met a rule yet that he has not tried to break.)

However, Spock has a way of making Jim do things that he wouldn't do under normal circumstances. Jim could not let Spock die, no matter what the consequences. He broke the prime directive for him. She would've done the same thing. Something like that only comes out of one place and that was a place of love.

She told herself it was a friendship type of love. However, she knew she was lying to herself. You don't give up your life for someone who is just a friend. Again, sometimes it felt like Spock was Jim's boyfriend too. The way they looked at each other was sparkly. She has never seen Jim look at somebody with such reverence before. The same can be said of Spock. The only other individual that Spock has given those types of looks to was her and Nyota was not even completely sure that they were the same type of looks. Despite his reputation of not being the type of guy who would fall in love, she just knew Jim Kirk was head over feet for Spock. She could feel it in every ounce of her being. (Again, rules were for other people, not Jim Kirk.)

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your perspective, this love was not one sided. Nyota was well aware of Spock's jealous boyfriend behavior on the shuttle regarding Dr. Marcus (or whatever the hell her last name is). That type of gossip gets around Enterprise fast even in a crisis. She knows it was jealous boyfriend behavior because she has seen a jealous Spock on more than one occasion and can recognize the signs a little too easily. Of course, she prefers when he was jealous over guys hitting on her not whatever is going on with Jim and that doctor.

Then there was the Spock version of an angry rant that she had to listen to when he found out that he would be moving to another ship. He was equally parts upset about being away from her and Jim. That right there should have told her everything.

But she and Spock have been together for three years and even though they've had some rough times, she loved him and he loved her. She wasn't just going to throw that away because Jim Kirk was kind of sort of in love with her boyfriend and maybe her boyfriend was kind of sort of in love with him too. Her plan was to ignore it and hope it would go away. Of the three, she was the only one who realized that Jim and Spock were in love with each other. Maybe she could have done that if Kirk didn't die. But he did die and now she can no longer lie to herself. More importantly, she does not think Jim and Spock can lie to themselves anymore either.

She knew her own emotions in regards to what happened in engineering. Her stomach dropped and she could barely keep calm. She watched from behind in those last few seconds. (She also relived the scene 15 times when she had to watch the video footage on repeat to compose the report for what remained of the admiralty and she could not subject Spock to reliving that moment). She watched their hands on the glass. Nyota knows what a Vulcan kiss looks like. From every camera angle in engineering, it still looked like a Vulcan kiss, even if a part of her mind wished she would see otherwise. She knew the significance of the gesture, even if no one else did.

Nyota heard his words and she heard what wasn't being said. 'Friend' has always been a very ambiguous term (especially in Spock's native tongue). Honestly, she was expecting Jim to say that he loves Spock because she just knew that's what he felt. She knew. The way he looked at Spock, she just knew.

The tears told her that Spock felt the same way because Spock does not cry. He did not cry for his mother or his planet. He did not cry for Admiral Pike. He didn't even react to the possibility of his own death. Yet, as Jim lay dying across the glass, the tears fell and once more she can't lie to herself about why he was crying. She just knows because she can't hold it together either.

Every time she watched the scene again she cried too, uncertain of exactly what she was mourning. She was either crying over the loss of a man who has somehow wormed his way into her life or her awareness that her relationship with Spock will never be the same. She doesn't know.

When Spock screamed, she was terrified. He doesn't do that. It was like a switch had been flipped. Her normal pacifist boyfriend was gone and in his place was a being who craves blood and vengeance. He was not even like this with Nero. What could make Spock act like this? A part of her mind told her that anyone would behave the same way if this happened to one of his or her friends. She knew better. That was just a comforting lie she told herself to avoid the inevitable conclusion that the only thing that could justify Spock's behavior was that he was in love with Jim. She already knew it was not a best friend love but rather I would die for you love filled with sensual gazes and lustful thoughts (Nyota already knew this, but she couldn't ignore this like all the other signs).

As everything was happening, she did not realize it. She was in too much shock to realize what was going on. Nyota was trying to function, despite the fact that her friend was dead. Yes, Jim Kirk was her friend. He understood her better than most. Maybe he was more than a friend to her too, because she can't deny that she felt like her whole world fell apart when he took that last breath (or at least what she thought was his last breath at the time). She can't deny that she wanted Khan (or whatever he called himself) dead as much as Spock did. However, she could not process this in the middle of a crisis situation. She did her job. She beamed down to keep Spock from killing their only hope of getting Jim back. Maybe the fact that he didn't even hear her until she mentioned Jim should be the final piece of this puzzle. It was not, even though it should have been.

Nyota doesn't get it until nearly a week and a half later when Spock is spending almost every day at Starfleet medical waiting for Jim to wake up, and even then it takes repeated viewing of various video files for her to accept it. Things clicked into place when she was forced to relive every single moment of what happened for the official report because she was one of the few senior members of Enterprise not medically incapacitated or emotionally compromised (and Jim Kirk has emotionally compromised her boyfriend). Her conclusion is simple: Jim is in love with Spock, Spock is in love with Jim, and she is just confused because despite the fact that Jim is in love with her boyfriend she still kind of likes him.

If her boyfriend fell in love with anyone else, she would be angry. She would be furious and/or shocked that her boyfriend who supposedly loved her fell in love with someone else. It was not that simple. She was neither surprised nor angry; a part of her knew that this has been building for months. Spock didn't fall out of love with her, he just fell in love with someone else at the same time. On the surface, it may seem like the same thing, but it's not. He still loves her, but he loves Jim too, and that made it so complicated.

It's not complicated because he loves two people at the same time, but rather because it's Jim that Spock is in love with. If it was anyone else, a decision would be easy to make. She would let go and be bitter or let go and be gracious. They could work through the issue with the help of a counselor. Usually, when you find out your boyfriend is in love with someone else, there are only two options: break up or work through the emotional infidelity, and this whole situation screamed emotional infidelity. If it was someone other than Jim, she could easily make that decision, but because it's Jim, she can't.

Nyota did not believe either option would be optimal. She did not want to break up because she still loves Spock, despite the fact that he drives her absolutely crazy and there are days when she wants to deck him. If it didn't feel like that, it wouldn't be real love. Real love takes work, and she's willing to work through this because she loves him and because he still loves her.

She knows that they could work through this, but does she want to? Again, she loves Spock and she doesn't want to make him unhappy, and Spock needs Jim like the air he breathes. She has known this for the last year. He makes Spock better. Together they are stronger than they could be apart. She can't keep Spock from Jim. It would be cruel and she loves Spock too much to hurt him like that.

Things were even more complicated because they all work together and she wasn't transferring ships just because she completely ignored the section in the Starfleet handbook about fraternization. She didn't want to serve on a ship without Jim in charge (and she knew that once the investigation was over Jim would still be in charge, not if, but when he woke up). She wouldn't make Spock leave either because Jim may be the only Captain in Starfleet that can make Spock think beyond the thousands of rules and regulations that he has memorized.

Then it all comes back to the fact that Spock is in love with Jim and how she feels about him. She doesn't hate Jim Kirk, even though the man was head over feet in love with her boyfriend. She should but she does not. Watching him die made her ill. Before everything fell apart, they had built a stronger-than-expected friendship. He still thought she was hot, but the flirting was mostly harmless now because, say what you will about Jim Kirk's morality, he doesn't try to screw his friend's girlfriend (or boyfriend for that matter).

So this is the situation at hand: her boyfriend is in love with Jim Kirk, Jim Kirk is in love with her boyfriend, and she still loves Spock but she kind of sort of likes Jim too in a not-just-a-friend way and did not want to hurt either guy. She also did not want anybody to have a broken heart, least of all herself, and it seemed like whichever horrible option she chose her heart was going to be broken in one way or the other. She was fucked either way and after several days of deliberating on this on her own she still doesn't know which horrible option she was going to choose because both options were completely horrible in her mind.

She wished she had somebody to talk to but her boyfriend is too preoccupied with his Jim Kirk vigil. Every single day he goes over to the medical Center hoping today was the day that Jim Kirk will wake up (half the time she was there with him). It has been 13 days, and the good news was Jim's brain function was almost back to normal and Jim was breathing on his own. That's progress.

She cannot talk to her best friend about this because it startled her to realize that said best friend was in a coma and was the whole reason why she was dealing with this major relationship crisis. When exactly did Jim Kirk become her best friend? She would say it was last year when most of her other friends died but that would be unfair to Jim.

It was a couple weeks before Enterprise was to leave and she and Spock were fighting because he was going to leave her to make Vulcan babies on the new colony. Her solution to the problem was to get completely wasted at a club by herself (yes, she realized that was stupid but she was very depressed at the time). This resulted in somebody slipping something in her drink and her passing out at the club. She woke up the next day in Jim Kirk's bed fully dressed with him sleeping on the couch. That's when she knew that despite his crappy reputation she could trust him. (She was also informed that despite being drugged she did deck the guy that was stupid enough to try drugging her, right before she passed out.)

Because she wasn't ready to talk to Spock yet about her suspicions she decided to go with Jim. Just because he was in a coma did not mean that he could not be a good sounding board. Right now, she needed to get her thoughts together before she talked to Spock.

"You know, I'm glad you're not dead," she said, grabbing his hand. "I don't know how it happened but somehow I've grown to like you, which makes the current situation so much more screwed up. So it kind of took you dying for me to finally realize that you're sort of in love with my boyfriend." She wondered if Jim would deny that factor or not if he were conscious. Instead, she just hears the silence of modern medical equipment.

"It's okay. I don't hate you. Like I said earlier, I kind of like you. Okay, maybe more than like but I'm not sure yet. The thing is you dying made me realize that Spock loves you too. We both know that he will deny feeling such an emotion in regard to you until the day he dies, but it's true. So now I'm in this impossible situation where I don't want to break up with my boyfriend but staying together will keep him from you. I also don't want to transfer ships and I don't want things to be awkward," she said, practically laughing because that was better than crying and she felt like she was going to cry.

"If you were up you would have another option. You always do. If you look up 'take a third option' in the dictionary, I think your name would be there. So what's my other option, Jim? I don't like the two I have. So if you could just wake up right now and tell me what to do, that would be good. Just wake up," she said as a tear rolled down her cheek.

"He would probably tell you to have a threesome," she heard Dr. McCoy snort from behind. She was mortified because she assumed that the only one around to hear her was Jim.

"You heard that?" she asked as she wiped her tears.

"Yes, but I kind of already knew. It takes a lot to make a Vulcan go homicidal. I'm just surprised you have realized it," he said sadly. "Also, your boyfriend has been here as much as me. Then again, so have you." That last part was practically whispered, but she still heard it.

"You are very observant. You're right, he probably would have suggested a threesome, which would be completely…"

She cut herself off right there when she realized that maybe it was not such a ridiculous option after all. Spock and Jim love each other, she and Spock love each other, and she knew that she and Jim had mutual admiration for each other, in addition to a strong sense of like. Let's be honest, it already felt like they were both dating Spock sometimes but Jim and Spock were not sleeping with each other. They might as well just make it official and have sex. If Jim was sleeping with her and Spock they would avoid something like the lizard girl incident (don't ask). That can only be a good thing. That was when she realized she had her third option.

"Sometimes, Jim, you're brilliant. Now, I have to see about getting you a new reason to wake up," she said, kissing Jim on the forehead before leaving Jim and a very confused doctor behind. It was time for her and Spock to have a very long conversation.


	2. Part two: Nothing about Love is Logical

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. I have not received such positive feedback on a new story since Dear Spock debuted almost 2 ½ years ago. (Keep the reviews coming they make me wake up at 5:00 AM to write more chapters.) So this will definitely be a three shot possibly followed by some other short stories in the same universe. Each chapter will be from the perspective of a different member of our trio. I think I would like to do at least one story that will not be 100,000 words plus. I'm a little exhausted after working on Starfleet Family Values for over three years.  
> I apologize for taking so long to get the next part up. My computer died and I’m using my backup with subpar voice recognition software until I get it back from the repair shop. Fortunately, for some unknown reason, I emailed my unfinished draft to myself (which is something I normally never do) the day before my computer crashed and I lost everything. It would be a lot worse if I lost the first 3500 words I wrote of this chapter.  
> Again, remember this story contains massive spoilers for Into Darkness. I’m also trying to patch up a few of the plot holes including explaining how Spock and Nyota can continue dating despite the fraternization policies on the book. In addition, I want to give some background about how Jim and Spock’s relationship began to develop.  
> Talltree-san also asked me to elaborate on the lizard girl incident. That will be in here.  
> Warning: There’s a scene in this chapter that borders on attempted non-con. Nothing graphic but after a very interesting debate on LiveJournal about the importance of warning I thought I should mention that.
> 
> (Update 6/24: Also thank you to Khashan for proofreading the revised version.)

Part two: Nothing about Love is Logical

When Spock was 5.6 years old, he asked his mom why she was with his father. Her response was because she loved him. His five-year-old mind could not completely understand her response. How can that be enough to sustain a relationship with somebody who was distant at most times? How can that be enough to uproot your entire life to become the 'ambassador's wife' and contend with individuals who treat you as merely an extension of your husband? How can love be enough to contend with the constant prejudice of everyone around you? How can any emotion be enough to put up with being referred to by various synonyms for prostitute on a regular basis? Of course, when he pressed his mom to clarify, she responded by saying, "The logical thing would have been for me to stay on Earth. Spock, nothing about love is logical."

He did not get that at five years old; he did understand it at 26 when he fell in love for the first time. The first thing that attracted him to Nyota was her intelligence, followed by her confidence and aggressiveness. A fellow classmate tried to proposition Cadet Uhura using vulgar Klingon during the language lab that he oversaw. The cadet's response was to stomp on the man's foot so hard that she broke his toe. Spock should have brought her up on charges for causing extreme bodily harm to a fellow cadet. Instead, he brought the other cadet up on charges of sexual harassment and misconduct. He also argued that Cadet Uhura was merely defending herself and should not be punished for physically assaulting the cadet.

Cadet Uhura decided to show her gratitude by showing up at his office with a collection of pastries from a vegan bakery just outside the campus. How she knew that apricot cookies were his favorite, he will never know. They spoke at length about many things, including her admiration for his vintage collection of pre-reform Vulcan poetry. She was currently specializing in Vulcan base languages and felt the best way to learn was to immerse herself in the cultures of those that she was studying. For some reason, he invited her to come to his office outside of his normal hours. He justified this by telling himself he was just helping one of his students get a better grasp of the language and he was not showing her any favoritism.

He continued to utilize this justification when they started meeting for coffee outside of office hours and when he started accompanying her to things such as poetry readings and operatic performances (in the languages that she was studying, of course). He was not able to use this justification when she kissed him for the first time.

It was improper (even if he enjoyed it). He was five years older than her and her instructor. Despite how wrong he knew it was, it was difficult for him to pull away. The texture of her lips and the taste of her skin were intoxicating. The logical thing would have been to pull away. At the same time, his mother's words echoed in his mind: 'Nothing about love is logical.'

Spock pulled away at that moment, realizing that he had somehow fallen in love with the student. Afterwards, he left his office as quickly as possible. He was disgusted with himself and felt it was necessary to report his breach of Starfleet regulation 1.4 B regarding the conduct between professors and students at the Academy. However, he ran into Captain Pike first.

He was Spock's advisor during his time at the Academy, and Spock had served as his science officer before his current assignment. Captain Pike could tell something was wrong instantly. Spock confessed everything to him from the impromptu coffee dates to the kiss that he shared with her in his office 33.4 minutes earlier. The captain's response was to laugh.

"This is serious, Captain. I violated Starfleet regulation 1.4 B," Spock said sternly.

"That regulation is absolute bullshit." After serving under the man for a year, Spock is not surprised by his language. "It's also not enforced at all. Now, it would be different if you were forcing her to sleep with you in exchange for a higher grade. Considering the fact that you're actually reporting your own possible incident of misconduct, that pretty much tells me you're not doing something like that."

"It's against regulation," Spock argues again.

"So is marrying your first officer, but I did that and it worked out fine," Chris explained.

"You married your first officer?" Spock asked, surprised because he could not detect anything overtly romantic between Captain Pike and the woman he referred to as his 'Number One.' Then again, the fact that the Captain referred to her by such a moniker was telling.

"Yes. It all happened during the type of mission that's normally referred to as 'the aliens made us do it,' but we chose not to have the marriage dissolved because we both discovered that we really did not need that much persuasion. We kept it quiet. Only Admiral Marcus knew about it. Although, when I get the Enterprise, I am going to have to choose a new first officer, and I was hoping it would be you." Spock was uncertain how to respond, although if he were human he would find such words flattering.

The rest of the evening was spent discussing the situation at hand. The captain convinced Spock it was best not to report the incident with Nyota to anyone else. Spock agreed to this course of action when Captain Pike showed him that all Starfleet regulations regarding fraternization and sexual relationships between officers have an exception for species where their life is dependent on bonding or sexual contact. (Spock decided it was in his best interest not to question why Captain Pike knew he qualified for such an exception). The only thing Captain Pike asked was if he did pursue a relationship with the cadet that he 'kept it quiet' and asked his TA to grade all of the cadet’s work until she was able to transfer to another class. Spock made a substantial effort to avoid the appearance of impropriety or favoritism.

The Captain also forced Spock to speak with Nyota about the incident before anything else was decided. Not much talking was actually involved, but rather the exchange of saliva and other fluids; however, it was still productive. They decided to pursue a romantic relationship. As illogical as it seemed, he really did love her. She was fascinating and challenging. She would not allow him to go into himself. She made him understand why his mother left her family and life behind on Earth for another person. He knew his mother would find Nyota very fascinating once they actually met.

Of course, he never had a chance to introduce her to his mother because they were waiting until Nyota graduated. After graduation, he was planning to take her to Vulcan to introduce her to his family and to ask her to bond with him. At that point, he was convinced that he would never care about anyone else so much. Of course, as a scientist, he should know that there are no absolutes (especially when Jim Kirk was involved).

Due to circumstances beyond his control, none of that ever happened. His mother died and his planet was destroyed. The only good thing that came out of that horrible experience was the discovery that the reason why it was logical for his father to marry his mother was because he loved her. He never proposed to Nyota. At first, it was because he was being pressured by his father to take a proper Vulcan wife to help with the repopulation efforts. Thankfully, his other self convinced him to do what felt right, and that was going back to the Enterprise. (Of course, Spock is not certain if his motivation for returning was to be with Nyota once more or to pursue this life defining 'friendship' with the man that Spock found simultaneously intriguing and infuriating. That in itself may be another reason why the proposal never happened.)

Then he never proposed because he and Nyota were fighting so much. After his mother's death, he felt like he had to keep everything inside, and even Nyota could no longer reach him. Despite the fact that he still loved her, he was afraid to let her in. He did not want to feel anything again. However, someone else could and he became the real reason why Spock never proposed to Nyota. He did not expect to fall in love with James Kirk, but when has anything involving James Tiberius Kirk been logical?

xx

* * *

The first time he saw Jim Kirk he was annoyed. In standard human vernacular, he found the man to be a 'cocky asshole'. Spock was even annoyed at the smug way he consumed his apple. He was infuriated. He should have known something was wrong, because no one has ever made Spock so angry before. He had the illogical desire to shove said apple down the man's throat. (It would not be until 10 months later, during what Nyota referred to as the lizard girl incident, that he realized his violent reaction may have come from a place other than hatred.) As his mother once said, 'love and hate are two sides of the same coin'.

James apologized for his antagonistic behavior, including using his mother to convince Spock that he was unfit for command. James sent Spock 33 separate requests to become his first officer. Eventually, Spock accepted James’ offer when he realized that going to the colony and leaving Nyota behind did not feel right. But he dared not acknowledge, not even to himself, that Spock did not feel right giving up a chance at cultivating this life defining 'friendship' even if he was uncertain how to proceed.

He wondered if he was mentally able to cultivate anything like friendship with anyone, let alone a relationship that was supposed to define his life. As he stated earlier, things with Nyota were contentious. The easy nature of their relationship seemed to be gone. There was so much he was keeping from her. He felt guilty because he could not save Vulcan or his mother. He felt guilty for still being alive when so many of their fellow Starfleet officers had died. When the fights with Nyota became the norm, Spock wondered if it really would have been better if he did die that day. He could not sleep at night because he remembered feeling the emotions of everyone that died.

Maybe he would not be arguing with Nyota as much if he told her this, but he did not. She lost her own friends the day Vulcan died. He cared about her too much to burden her with these emotions that he wished never to feel. He felt it was better to deal with these things on his own.

Eventually, on the sleepless nights, Spock found himself in one of the recreation rooms, assuming no one would be there. The first time he did this Spock saw his Captain, who apparently was also unable to sleep. That first night they discussed the book of Harlem Renaissance poetry that James was reading in the original English. James had an amazing grasp of the old language.

The next time it happened, Jim convinced Spock to teach him how to play chess. James told Spock that he always wanted to learn, but his mother was horrible at it and it would just remind her too much of her late husband to make any real effort. Spock explained that his mother taught him how to play this game, but he believed she would be disappointed if he gave up something he found pleasant because of the memory associated with it. Jim's response was to laugh.

The next month was filled with many accidental meetings in the middle of the night. Eventually, these meetings ceased being accidental, and they began to plan to see each other two days a week. He did not tell Nyota about these meetings; he saw no need to because Nyota also interacted with James socially. Spock chose to ignore that these meetings were very similar to the type of interactions he had with Nyota during the early part of their acquaintance. At the time, Spock did not see it that way because his working relationship with James was still somewhat contentious. Nyota said that they argued like an old married couple. Surprisingly, Spock agreed what this analogy because their behavior reminded Spock distinctly of how his parents behaved around each other. (In hindsight, maybe Spock should have read more into this.)

However, Spock continued justifying his late night meetings with Jim by referring to it as a teambuilding exercise (Now, he realized that this was similar to the logic Spock used to excuse constantly seeking out Nyota during the early part of their acquaintance).

The most memorable meeting involved James reprogramming one of the replicators to do a perfect vegan apricot cookie because Spock told James it was his favorite and James felt like Spock was not eating enough. James also brought out a substance that he confiscated from Mr. Scott's personal stash after their work was successfully completed. Spock would make a comment about James consuming alcohol, but he could not prove his suspicions. Of course, the fact that Jim confessed to missing regular sex confirmed, in Spock's mind, at the very least, that James had consumed some substance that lowered his inhibitions. Even the normally outspoken Jim had more decorum than that.

"I'm 26 and I like sex, but I can't do anything because of that stupid fraternization policy, and I really don't feel like dealing with someone like this crazy blonde med student that was practically stalking me after an encounter that was supposed to be a one night stand. She convinced herself I was going to be her knight in shining armor, when we both know I am a complete fuck up who just got lucky. It was so bad I purposely made myself forget her name. Chris made sure that she wouldn't end up on the ship," Jim said with a shiver as he slurred several of his words. "It's impossible to do casual when you have to see the person every day, and after that little incident I know better. You're like the only person I can have sex with that I actually trust. It wouldn't get weird with you because I like you and I think it would be not casual. But your girlfriend would cut off my dick if I asked, maybe. I kind of trust her too because she actually knows me."

"I believe it is best if you return to your quarters. Obviously, what you have just consumed is affecting your ability to filter your speech. I also believe that you left out some words," Spock said, placing a hand on Jim's shoulder to steady him.

"When do I ever filter what I say?" James asked flippantly.

"Rarely," Spock remarked dryly.

"Seriously, how did you get permission to date the hottest woman in Starfleet? I mean, she speaks like three dozen languages and she's a good shot. What she did to that guy who used bad Klingon pickup lines on her was legendary. I love women who are smart and deadly. It's hot as hell, but then again, so are you. Would you ever consider a threesome? Sandwiches are fun. I'm good at that." The increased incoherency of Jim's speech proved Spock's hypothesis that the Captain had consumed something alcoholic. Of course, his behavior could be related to an allergic reaction (it would not be the first time).

In hindsight, maybe Spock should have been more concerned with the fact that James being highly complimentary to his girlfriend did not bother him. Actually, Spock only realized that this was an issue three months later due to his response regarding James’ interactions with a new science officer. He had no trouble whatsoever with James or Nyota saying complimentary things about each other or behaving in a flirtatious manner with one another. Nonetheless, he found it disturbing when others engaged in similar behavior with Nyota or James.

"Vulcans require a partner to sustain adequate health," Spock explained simply, not mentioning anything about a certain biological urge that occurs every seven years. "Therefore, I qualify for an exception to the fraternization policy. You would know this if you actually read my personnel file."

"I read it, but I didn't get it. Do you think that they'll consider sex addiction as a viable excuse?" Jim joked, but Spock wondered if Jim really was that self-aware. If campus legend regarding James’ sexual encounters (with males and females from various species) were somewhat accurate, he would find it highly plausible that James suffered from sex addiction.

"I am uncertain they would consider that a plausible reason for exception. They would most likely suggest counseling," Spock said before escorting James to his quarters. He completely ignored the sensation that he felt when Jim's fingers accidentally brushed his.

xx

* * *

A month later, during what Nyota referred to as the 'lizard girl incident', Spock will regret not suggesting that James see a counselor. Due to Mr. Scott doing something in engineering that may or may not have been illegal, they were given a 48 hour unprompted shore leave to facilitate necessary repairs. This resulted in Jim visiting one of the drinking establishments on planet to secure 'company' for the evening. Spock was upset about this solely because such behavior was unbecoming of a Captain, not because he disliked the idea of James engaging in sexual relations with someone else. As stated earlier, Spock did not find it uncomfortable when James flirted with Nyota or stared at her in a lustful way. Though, that was mostly because James acted the same way around him. (A part of his mind may have considered it sexually stimulating, but Spock refuses to meditate on that.)

No, Spock was upset because he felt James’ behavior was dangerous, and he was proven right when they had to rescue him from the lizard-like female who kidnapped James and was planning to make him her personal sexual slave. Fortunately, he, Nyota, and Dr. McCoy found a completely naked and unconscious James chained to the woman's bed before anything of a nonconsensual sexual nature occurred. (Nyota was with him because her knowledge of the local language facilitated a more successful search). The three were able to subdue the woman in question, and Spock then proceeded to unchain James. (He did not stare at his undressed Captain any more than absolutely necessary to free him. He also did not make physical contact with James more than absolutely necessary.)

Yes, he did report the kidnapping to Starfleet. He did not include the details regarding the state in which they discovered James. Apparently, James gave Admiral Pike a non-edited account. Which resulted in Spock having a highly uncomfortable conversation with the admiral.

"Are you sexually attracted to your Captain?" the admiral asked after Spock gave the man a complete account of what happened. Spock was not expecting that question.

"I am still engaging in a romantic relationship with Lieutenant Uhura," he responded, unblinking.

"That's not what I asked, Commander. Jim does email me from time to time in a nonofficial capacity. He constantly talks about your chess dates and the fact that you two argue like an old married couple. Actually, everybody tells me about that," the admiral mumbled that part under his breath.

"I knew about what happened on planet before you just told me everything in a way that has me convinced you have a crush on your captain." If he were human, his skin would be slightly flushed, but he can control any signs of outward embarrassment at the mere remembrance of James' body. Instead, Spock responded by concisely explaining why Jim's behavior was detrimental, starting with the fact that if they arrived 5 minutes later, Spock would be filling out form 754-D regarding the sexual assault of a crew member during the course of duty. It is possible that Spock focused unnecessarily on the fact that this entire incident began because James went on his own to find suitable company of a sexual nature for the evening.

"That right there is why I asked you if you were sexually attracted to your Captain," the Admiral said, sighing. "You actually sound jealous."

"Jealousy is an emotion I do not feel," Spock shot back sharply. "I have no right to criticize the Captain’s sexual habits except when it endangers his life or that of the crew. This choice led to a situation that could have had serious consequences."

"Next time you're on Earth, I'm making you take the affective feedback class and every other communication class I can get away with," the admiral said, rubbing his forehead. "You are jealous and you just said so in the most passive aggressive way imaginable. If you want to date your captain, that's fine with me. At the very least, it will prevent us from having conversations like this in the future. Just so you know, Jim could do monogamy if he wanted to; he just hasn't found a reason to. I'm sure you could give him one." Spock was uncertain if that was a joke. Spock still did not comprehend most human humor. He felt it was best not to respond.

"If you want to stay in denial about what's going on between you two, that is fine. However, the pigtail pulling needs to stop _now_ ," the admiral said sharply.

"The Captain has no pigtails for me to pull," Spock replied, nonplussed.

"It's a metaphor," the admiral said as he rubbed his temple on screen again. "Figure out what's going on between you two, but don't let it interfere with the ship." With that, Admiral Pike disappeared from the screen.

xx

* * *

Of course, Spock interpreted that to mean he would need to end his less professional interactions with James. He and James had to stop meeting for late-night chess games and conversations. Also in keeping with Spock's interpretation of the admiral's orders, he reported exactly what happened on Nibiru even if he knew that both Jim and he would face serious consequences because of what they did.

Now, as he sits next to Jim's hospital bed for 13 days in a row, he questions his decision to do exactly that. Admiral Pike was now dead, James nearly (even in his mind he does not speak the truth) died, and Spock was now very well aware that Admiral Pike was right about his feelings for James.

James was _technically_ dead for 18 hours, 22 minutes and 35 seconds. That was how long it took Dr. McCoy's team to synthesize the serum from Khan's blood that allowed James' heart to start beating again without assistance. Of course, Spock did not remember anything that occurred during that time.

He did not remember anything from the moment James took his supposed last breath until he took his first post rebirth. He did not remember his actions on planet in regard to Khan. Spock did not remember Nyota screaming at him to stop. He read her concise report but he still remembered none of it. He has no explanation as for what happened, but he told no one that he does not remember anything he did.

The last thing he remembered was James taking his last breath in front of him. That was the exact moment when Spock completely understood what Admiral Pike was trying to tell him before (as well as his last words to Spock about taking care of Jim). In that moment, Spock figured out what he felt for Jim. The thought of him being with anyone else made him sick. The thought of losing the possibility of the promise 'friendship' that would define both him and James was disconcerting. He did not want to lose James. He watched him die unable to do anything else. Spock was unable or maybe he was unwilling to keep his tears from falling. He could not suppress what he felt because of what he felt was love. It was not a platonic type of love but a complicated one. The irony was not lost on Spock that he figured this out just as James took his last breath.

13 days later, despite a miracle that gave him a second chance, he has told no one about this revelation because there was no one he could tell. Spock had very few acquaintances that he could share something so profound with. His mother was gone as was Admiral Pike. Both would be the best source to discuss something like this and yet both avenues were now closed permanently. Spock would not characterize his relationship with Dr. McCoy as particularly close, although they did socialize occasionally. Maybe it could have been if Spock had made any effort to cultivate such a relationship. In the last 13 days, they mostly spoke about James’ medical prognosis. The rest of the time, Spock sat silently at James’ bedside working on various reports and other necessities in his capacity as acting captain.

The doctor never mentioned the fact that it would be much more efficient for Spock to work in his temporary office than at James’ bedside. The doctor never commented on the fact that Spock spent more time with James than anyone else. Actually, no one did, including Nyota.

She never said anything about all the time he has been spending with Jim. Instead, she brought him lunch, including his favorite apricot cookies, and quietly sat beside him. She never questioned his inability to write the report specifically pertaining to James death; instead, she wordlessly composed the report herself without his prompting or suggestion. She also omitted any mention of his show of emotion (along with several other things that they chose not to make public). He knew that she saw Spock intertwined his fingers with Jim's on at least one occasion. She never said anything, she just grabbed Jim's other hand.

Nyota understood him in a way that very few people did, not completely but better than most. Spock was aware, before getting into an inappropriately timed argument whilet flying into a hostile environment, that he has been distant. He could see how his perceived indifference regarding his own life could affect her. (They already had this argument before.) At the same time, she was aware that knowing that his behavior affected James would influence him.

Spock loves her because she does understand him and she did not push him to give her what he is unable to give. She gave him support even when he refused to acknowledge that he needed her support. Falling in love with James did not change that. He still loves her, he just loves James simultaneously. Spock's love for her was grounded in logic and their similar personalities. His love for James was grounded in passion and the man's ability to make Spock feel what he refused to feel.

The logical choice was to stay with Nyota. Their relationship already existed and was a certain thing. He was uncertain of Jim's feelings for him. (He conveniently forgot i.e. ignored a certain late night conversation a few months earlier.) Again, if James’ reputation was to be believed, he was not known for long-term monogamous relationships. Despite Admiral Pike's assertions otherwise, Spock was not sure that, even if James cared for him, he would be able to give Spock that type of commitment that he desired.

Then there was the fact that eventually Spock will need to help with the repopulation efforts. It would be easier to create a family with Nyota and not merely because Nyota possessed a uterus. There are many fertility options available to those that cannot procreate in the traditional way. During one of their late-night post chess conversations, James mentioned that his biggest fear was accidentally impregnating one of his sexual encounters due to contraceptive failure. James believed that he would be the worst father figure of all time due to his lack of a role model growing up.

Of course, the most important reason why it would be illogical to end his relationship with Nyota was that James may not wake up (and this was the reason that scared him the most). James has technically been in a coma for 12 days. Yes, his brain function was improving, but they were still uncertain. Logic dictates that he suppress his emotions for James. But nothing involving Jim Kirk was logical, including Spock's feelings for the man. Therefore, once again he found himself alone in James’ hospital room, waiting for his love to wake up as he held onto James' hand.

He actually passed Nyota on the way to James. Actually, he turned into another hallway to purposely avoid her. If Admiral Pike was still alive, he would have told Spock to speak with her about the situation at hand. However, due to her human heritage, Spock was uncertain that she could filter her emotions and look at the situation from a purely empirical perspective. If Spock, who was of Vulcan ancestry, was unable to keep his emotions from influencing his decision, how can he expect her to do something he cannot?

Instead, despite the illogical nature of the gesture, Spock found himself confessing everything to an unconscious James. He justified his actions because he has read several research articles stating that the unconscious can hear what others are saying. In addition, Spock believed it would still be easier to say everything with an audience that cannot provide feedback in the form of throwing things. It was always easier for Spock to tell James things that he would be reluctant to speak with others about. He told James everything, from his revelation in engineering to not remembering what he did after James died. He expressed his confusion over the fact that he still cares about Nyota greatly and knows that it’s most logical to stay with her, but Spock is not certain if he wants to take the most logical course nor is he certain this is the most logical course.

"The entire situation is absurd. The logical choice is Nyota. I cared greatly for her. She is a strong and intelligent woman who accepts me exactly as I am. Yet, simultaneously, I find you intriguing. I care about you more than I should. As I stated earlier, although I do not remember it, I was informed by Nyota that I behaved in a very illogical way after…" Spock closed his eyes and paused for a second, not wanting to remember that moment. "I came to the conclusion that I am in love with you, and with most things involving you, I find it impossible to act logically." Spock confessed in a whisper just as he heard footsteps.

"That's very true." At the words, Spock turned around to see Nyota standing there with tears rolling down her cheeks. He quickly let go of Jim's hand to go to her.

"Don't, Spock. I'm not crying because my boyfriend just acknowledged that he is in love with somebody else. I already knew, Spock. I've known longer than I care to admit. These are happy tears. I'm just glad that you get it. That's going to make this conversation a lot easier," she said as she placed his hand back on Jim's.

"I do not understand what that means," he stated, confused by her words and actions.

"I know that you're in love with him. It's amazing what you realize when you're forced to relive one of the worst moments of your life 15 times in succession. Maybe you didn't realize it at the time, but you gave him a goodbye kiss." For a moment, he remembered the position of his fingers on the glass and he knew she was correct. "Also, I'm pretty sure when you said 'friend', you were not using the standard definition." Nyota was always his brightest linguistic student. If anybody was familiar with the nuances of the Vulcan language, it would be her.

"Your hypothesis is accurate," Spock told her, unable to say anything else.

"I'm not going to yell at you," Nyota said simply after a very long silence.

"Is it because of the setting where this conversation is taking place?" Spock asked, looking directly at James.

"No. In a weird sort of way it makes sense that Jim is here. This conversation is about him as much as it is about us, all three of us. I wasn't planning on yelling at you even if you were actually at our apartment. Besides, really, how often have you been home in the last 13 days?" Nyota paused but Spock felt it was most prudent not to answer once he realized that 63.3% of his time has been spent at James’ bedside.

"Maybe when I first realized it I would have, but I have had enough time to realize a few things. Yelling will not fix this. I don't hate you for falling in love with him," Nyota told him as another tear ran down her cheek. Even if she did not hear his earlier confession, Spock would not deny her words.

"I still care for you," he said, using his unoccupied hand to wipe away her tears. "I do not feel more for James than I do for you."

"You just love him in a different way?" Nyota prompted and he responded by nodding his head.

"It's okay," Nyota said simply as she placed her hand on top of his, eventually wrapping her fingers around his and Jim's. "I still don't hate you and I don't hate Jim because you fell in love with him. I don't want to break up."

"That is the most logical…" Spock started but stopped when Nyota pressed a finger to his lips.

"Let me finish before you say how logical I am being. You're probably going to think I'm crazy for saying this but I don't want you to not be without James either. I think you should date both of us," she said as she finally removed her finger from his lips. However, he was unable to speak. He was familiar with the concept of polyandry. It was more common in Vulcan society than in human society (especially right now due to the need to re-populate the species with as much genetic diversity as possible.) At present, it was only socially acceptable because it was the most logical course. That's when Spock remembered a drunk Jim asking him if he would consider a threesome. Actually, he remembered a lot of things James said in that conversation and he wondered if the old Earth saying about there being 'truth in wine' applied to the situation.

"Can you please say something?" Nyota asked after the silence became too long.

"I was under the impression that humans prefer monogamy or at least serial monogamy." He did not mention James' inebriated suggestion a few months earlier. Nyota's response was to laugh.

"Why are you laughing?" Spock asked with a quirk of his eyebrow.

"You and Jim have already been dating for the last eight months at least. I know about your late-night conversations when neither one of you can sleep. I told myself it was part of your healing process and a good first step in keeping you guys from bickering during the middle of a crisis. But let's be honest, the only reason why your relationship with Jim is still platonic is because you're not sleeping together, yet." The word 'yet' was mumbled under her breath, but Spock still heard her.

"I think the moment I realized the truth was when Jim and I were both complaining about how much you drive us crazy and I realized that we were both complaining about this guy that we were both completely in love with who drove us absolutely nuts. Maybe if these last few horrible days never happened, we could all keep lying to ourselves, but we almost lost Jim and I don't see the point in lying anymore. You are in love with me and Jim, Jim is in love with you and probably would be perfectly fine sleeping with me, and in addition, I love you and watching Jim dying made me physically ill." She closed her eyes. Spock speculated that she was remembering that painful moment in engineering.

"Jim does not love me," Spock said, untangling his hand from the grip of Nyota. (Again, he ignored that drunk conversation months earlier.)

"Sometimes you are so clueless, Spock. He loves you too. He died for you," Nyota told him, running a hand over his cheek.

"He died for the sake of the crew," Spock said without inflection or stumbling over the word 'died.'

"Maybe, maybe not, but here's the thing, if he didn't knock Scotty out and run headfirst into the warp core, you would have done it if you could. He wasn't going to let that happen to you. I think you now know the real answer to why he couldn't let you die in that volcano."

"That is because he is my friend." Nyota gave him an exacerbated look at his words.

"Only by the Vulcan definition of the term," she said with another laugh. "Let's just not worry about it now. I'm sure when Jim wakes up he will find a way to convince you that he loves you even if I have to smack him upside the head a few times beforehand." Spock was uncertain if that was hyperbole.

"What will happen if James does not wake up?" Spock said, asking the one question that he did not want to consider. The thought of James not waking up was distressing.

"He will," she said without any scientific data to back up her statement.

"It has been 13 days." As each day passed and James remained unconscious, Spock became more aware of the possibility that James may not wake up.

"He will, it's Jim. You could try the sleeping beauty technique, if you're worried," Nyota said as she moved to her normal place on Jim's other side and grabbed that hand. Spock's response was to look at her.

"We both know you want to kiss him." Spock doesn't move at her words, despite the truth. An illogical part of his mind wanted Jim to be conscious for their first kiss. "Fine, I will do it," Nyota said, leaning over to place a light kiss on Jim's lips. James may have blinked, but Spock was uncertain.

"I'm sure that would have worked if you were the one that kissed him," she said jokingly.

"I am not going to kiss James while he is unconscious."

"However, you're perfectly OK kissing him when he's conscious?" Nyota asked, smirking.

"Not if Dr. McCoy is around." Spock said under his breath in a voice so low that he doubted Nyota heard him.

"Okay, that right there is why you should wake up, Jim. 13 days is enough time to recover and Spock is ready to make out with you now," she joked. "Spock is a really good kisser. Actually, he is good at most bedroom activities, especially anything involving his mouth. I cried the first time, it was so good." Spock knew that she was not exaggerating, although he did wonder why she was saying these things to Jim unless she really believed that this would result in him waking up. "I'm sure that skill is transferable to either gender. That's going to be fun to watch, and trust me, I will be watching." Her words triggered feelings of arousal that Spock had no choice but to suppress due to the setting. "Also, a fun fact they don't teach in introduction to xeno-biology, Spock barely has a refractory period."

"I did not need to know that," Dr. McCoy said, walking through the door with Jim's usual nurse, Mr. Jacobson, behind him.

"Actually, as a medical professional, you need to be familiar with the biological processes of various species."

"Lord, give me strength," Dr. McCoy murmured.

"That's what you get for listening in on another private conversation," Nyota retorted sharply. "It's been 13 days; we are getting a little desperate. At this point, the promise of a threesome seemed like the best solution. It is Jim." Another tear rolled down Nyota's cheek as she spoke.

"I know. Go home. I'll call if your boyfriend wakes up," Dr. McCoy said in a gentle voice as he pushed both out of the room. Spock decided not to correct Dr. McCoy's choice of words, instead, he accompanied Nyota home wordlessly.

For the first time since the incident on Nibiru, he engaged in activities of a sexual nature with Nyota. Of course, during said activities Nyota described in detail all the things that she wanted to see Spock do to James (and Spock shared with her the details of that drunk conversation with Jim). When Spock received a call 8.3 hours later from Dr. McCoy stating that James was starting to wake up, Spock cannot help but wonder if Nyota's offer was a contributing factor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The final part of this will be from James perspective. Please review (especially if you want me to expand this universe passed the initial story).  
> I know a few people would love for me to do a more explicit story but I don’t like writing graphic sex scenes. (There’s just something weird about talking dirty to your computer). However, I am willing to do a collaborative story for the trio’s very NC 17 first time if I can find somebody that is willing to write the more explicit scenes with me as part of a collaboration.


	3. Part three: 101 Dating Rules I don't follow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter. Your comments and encouragement keeps me in the creative zone which means more chapters faster.  
> Thank you to Khashana for proofreading.  
> So this is the last part of this arc. There will be sequels that will dig deeper into the dynamic of this relationship. For readers on ff . net, I’m going to do what I did with You Don’t Have to Be My Boyfriend and post all the stories together as one big mega-story. On the other sites, I’m going to post the stories as separate entities as part of the same series. I’m doing it this way because FF .net doesn’t allow you to group stories together by series and to provide everyone with an easy option to follow the series.  
> I’m still looking for someone who would be willing to write some of the more explicit scenes.  
> Disclaimer: A few lines in this chapter are direct quotes from STID. You will recognize them when you see them.

A lot of people think that Jim is an absolute amoral slut; it just looks that way because he’s nondiscriminatory. If you turn down a possible partner due to something arbitrary like planet of origin or genitalia you miss out on a lot of interesting experiences. Jim has met a lot of eclectic individuals and has learned cool things. He can speak six different languages due to various bed partners. Also the knowledge that he has picked up in the bedroom regarding various cultural practices have come in handy during several diplomatic situations i.e. this knowledge has already kept them from dying at least twice. In addition, there is just something inherently great about any species where the people have breasts and dicks. Jim loved that species. There’s a reason that Jim was able to test out of all of his xeno-biology classes. (Although Vulcans still eluded him and as much as he would like to study that firsthand Jim knew that was never going to happen. He knows about how they kiss but that’s about it.)

He was not a slut, he was a connoisseur of diversity and he loves sex in all its many forms. Maybe his choices in partners said more about his inner desire to discover new things more than anything else. In general, most people did not see it that way. There was this one telepathic psych major hook up that suggested Jim was a sex addict and urge Jim to see a therapist but Jim solved that problem by not sleeping with the guy again.

Contrary to popular belief, just because he’s open to a lot of things does not mean he doesn’t have standards and rules. For example he has learned the hard way not to sleep with med students who are already planning your wedding by the first date and telepathic psychiatry majors. That leads to restraining orders, crying, and dodging therapy sessions. He doesn’t want to deal with situations like that again so Jim has developed rules that govern his hookups.

The rule tied for number one is he does not fuck his crew. Jim respects the people that he works with too much to turn anybody into a one night stand. (In addition, he needs them to respect him and fucking with everybody is not conducive to that.) Also, casual doesn’t work well when you have to work with somebody on a daily basis for however long the mission is going to last. Really, it’s just common sense not to fuck with (literally and figuratively) the people who may rescue you from the local inhabitants after they decide to kidnap you, drug you, and chain you up to a bed for a sex ritual that you did not consent to and that may result in your death. (He’s cool with bondage as long as he actually trusts the person but trust goes out the window when they drug him first. There’s a reason why Jim doesn’t do much bondage.)

So even though he may stare at the asses of his communications officer and first officer a little too often he wasn’t going to do a thing about it because he does not fuck his crew.  Besides nothing could come of it, so it didn’t matter.

His next rule is he doesn’t sleep with people who are under the influence or in situations where consent is obviously very dubious. There was something that happened to Jim when he was a teenager that he never talks about that led to this rule. That’s why when some idiot drugged his favorite communications officer when she was on a ‘break’ from her boyfriend (and his Spock) he took her to his apartment (after she kicked the guys ass), called Bones to check on her, and let her sleep it off in his bed as he slept on his absolutely horrible couch. He adored Nyota and has always thought she was the hottest woman in Starfleet but Jim respects her too much to take advantage of her. Despite what everybody thinks about him, he doesn’t screw the unwilling or those who are unable to say that they’re unwilling.

That’s another reason why he doesn’t fuck his crew. He’s in a position of authority and is a little worried that someone may sleep with him just because he’s technically their boss and he doesn’t want that. There was an incident like that with his mom where she said no to her commanding officer and she and husband number three ended up assigned to the colony of the damned (Jim was dragged along for the unpleasantness). He could never put somebody under his command in that position.

The other reason why he didn’t do anything with Nyota even though she was technically on a break was he doesn’t mess with other people’s relationships. Jim learned this one the hard way during the lost years. When he was living in this really shady apartment he started sleeping with his next-door neighbor. Unbeknownst to Jim, she was sleeping with him to get back at her husband who was screwing around with the babysitter and like to beat the hell out of her for the fun of it.  The husband found out and Jim ended up with two black eyes, three broken ribs, and bruises all over his neck (the other guy was actually worse). The only good thing that came out of that disaster was the wife (along with her two kids) decided to finally get the hell away from the bastard husband.

Jim could just imagine how much worse it would be if he managed to piss off a Vulcan. At that point, his neck was still hurting from the last time he made Spock angry. He was also equally afraid of Nyota because campus legend had it that she broke a guy’s foot for asking her to go down on him in Klingon and he saw her knock out the idiot who tried to drug her. For that reason, both were hands-off.

Even if something happened and Nyota and Spock were no longer together, he still wouldn’t try anything because he does not fuck his friends and both were friends. He and Nyota became friends after he was a perfect gentleman during the ‘getting drunk and accidentally drugged because your boyfriend is leaving you to make Vulcan babies with some stranger’ fiasco. He even knew that the only reason she started learning Klingon was to understand the stupid pickup lines of a certain idiot. She continued taking classes when she realized she was good at it. Despite what other Spock said and his desire to strangle his Spock on a regular basis, something like friendship has actually developed with his Spock (or it did before the lizard girl incident and saving Spock from the volcano of doom before said Vulcan threw him under the metaphorical bus.)

He likes both relationships where they are and he doesn’t want to mess that up. Okay, that’s a lie. It is more like he doesn’t think more is ever going to happen with either person, so he’s going to be satisfied with whatever little crumbs he can get. That one time he was brave enough to suggest that he wanted something more Jim played it off as if he was drunk and joking. He was completely sober because again contrary to what everybody assumes, he’s not the reckless idiot that they all think that he is (except for recent actions that have resulted in him having ‘time’ to re-examine things). Spock never said anything and Jim never mentioned it again.

Jim’s no fucking friends rule came out of high school and the destruction of his longest lasting platonic relationship until he met Bones. His preteen and teen years in general were pretty horrible but the destruction of that relationship is probably the worst part. After surviving the famine and a governor with a genocidal god complex, he was sentenced to spend out the rest of his teenage years in a group home until his then best friend’s family took him in (because Jim’s brother was too ‘flaky’ to consider stepping up and taking care of him himself). The reason why Jim became a ward of the Federation was because his mom kind of lost it after all the shit that went down on the planet they do not speak of. Over a decade later, she was still living in a Starfleet rehabilitation center for ‘mental issues’ and most of the time when he actually visit her she assumed that he was George.

Natalia was sweet, kind, and wickedly smart. She studied ballet and martial arts. Her two dads were Starfleet engineers who were working on the design of what would one day become his baby. Everything was good for almost a year until Natalia was convinced her boyfriend was going to dump her at any moment because she couldn’t give a good blow job. Jim felt she should just dump the loser and she felt that due to his reputation he could help her ‘practice’. Because he was a teenage boy who thinks way too often with his dick, he agreed. The casualties were one black eye by the bastard boyfriend, one ruined friendship, and a couple of nights in jail for assault. Things were so awkward that Jim successfully applied to become an emancipated minor and spent the next four years working odd jobs and taking online classes until the bar fight that changed his life.

Jim’s most important rule(s) that govern his hookups are he doesn’t do relationships and he doesn’t fall in love. This relationship rule came about during his early 20s after he dated a guy for about four months until he caught said boyfriend with his pants down literally fucking one of Jim’s supposed friends. (That may also play into his why he does not mess with other people’s relationships rule. Cheating is horrible when you’re the one being cheated on.)

The rule about not falling in love comes from the fact that he believes love doesn’t last. Outside of his parents, Jim knows one person whose marriage lasted till death do us part and that’s because Pike was mur… Pike was no longer alive. His mother’s relationships all ended in absolute disaster. Her first marriage ended in widowhood. Her second marriage ended because Frank liked to beat the shit out of both of them. Her third marriage ended when her bastard husband turned her and Jim over to members of the protection forces during that famine they do not speak of for an extra month of rations.  (This was after her loyalty to him landed everyone on that planet in the first place.) Thankfully, the man didn't make it off the planet alive. That was the thing that pretty much broke his mother sanity. The incident with Natalia and the cheating boyfriend pretty much cemented in Jim’s mind that love was a delusion and something that Jim would never have.

So, yes, contrary to popular belief Jim does have standards and rules and therefore Spock and his girlfriend were completely off-limits. Of course, if Pike were still alive he would tell anybody that Jim was absolutely horrible at following the rules, even his own.

So somehow Jim sort of broke every single one of his own rules by falling in love with his first officer/sort of friend, who is dating Jim’s sort of friend/communications officer, who Jim wouldn’t be that averse to sleeping with too (okay maybe he cared about her as well in a more than a friend sort of way). This revelation came when he was forced to choose between observing the Prime Directive and letting Spock die. He was really glad that nobody asked him why he didn’t leave Spock in the volcano because the real answer scared the hell out of him.

His solution to this problem was to pretty much ignore everything he felt. The next few days were filled with alcohol, self-loathing, and meaningless sex. It was so meaningless that he actually had to picture Spock to get it up for the Kitty Twins (it’s a bad sign when a threesome just doesn’t do it for you anymore). In the 11 years that he has been sexually active, that has never happened before (during a consensual encounter, anyway). Of course, it became a little harder to ignore when he realized that despite losing his ship, he didn’t regret saving Spock.

Battle situations are great for denial, unless the object of your affection’s girlfriend decides to bring you into one of their lover’s spats (especially if you like her too). Also, if Jim isn’t that freaked out about the two kissing then obviously he can’t be that into Spock. (He decided not to examine the fact that he thinks it’s kind of hot. Those thoughts will do no one any good.)

Okay, battle situations are not that good for denial because he almost kissed Spock, more than once. Before leaving for Marcus’s ship he almost kissed Spock goodbye. He just knew things were going to fall apart and he wasn’t going to see Spock again. He was right.

Now that he sort of died, he kind of regretted not doing it. He regretted a lot of things including falling into Marcus’s trap, but he didn’t regret falling in love with Spock. What’s the point of being afraid to fall in love when you are already facing death? In that moment, he knew he was going to die because his body was on fire. He realized there was no point in lying to himself anymore. Maybe he did regret not telling Spock. After everything that went down during the volcano incident, he should have pushed Spock up against the nearest wall and kissed him as if he were the air that Jim breathed. Even if Spock had laughed him out of the room, in a very Vulcan way, Jim would not regret it because at least Spock would have known. (At least he wouldn’t regret it until Nyota kicked him in the balls for making out with her boyfriend).

“I'm scared, Spock... Help me not to be... ” His words were low and in a whisper. He paused because it was getting hard to breathe let alone talk. “How do you choose not to feel?”

“I do not know,” Spock said as his voice broke, and Jim never expected to see Spock like this. “Right now, I am failing.” As the tears fell from Spock’s eyes, Jim wondered just for a second if his Spock crush wasn’t so one-sided. If you have slept with as many species as he has, you can recognize a Vulcan kiss when you participate in one. His pain was getting worse and he knew he only had minutes if not seconds left. If he didn’t tell Spock now he never would.

“I wanted you to know why I couldn't let you die... why I went back for you...” Jim started but he did not have enough air in his lungs to continue.

“Because you are my friend,” Spock supplied for him.

If his body wasn’t burning from the inside he would have laughed at the absurdity of it all. Then he noticed Nyota crying in the background and he lost his will to tell Spock those three little words. He couldn’t die stabbing his friend in the back. He kind of loved her too in a different way and he couldn’t do that to her. He couldn’t leave this world screwing up Spock’s relationship. He cared about her too much to leave her behind with her relationship in tatters. Instead, he stayed silent as everything went to black.

xxx

Like most of his generation he believes that death is a state of nonexistence. Most no longer believe in an afterlife in a torment dimension or some perfect utopia. Of course, Jim was not so sure about that since he has had a lot of time to think especially about those rules that he was now questioning the purpose and practicality of.

He's not exactly sure where he is. Things are dark but he can still hear words. He hears Bones calling him an idiot a lot. He remembers all the things that he wished he did differently from the fiasco with the med student to not kissing Spock. He thought of all the relationships that he screwed up. Jim thinks about completely fucking up and realizing that his only solution to keep everybody from dying is to pull a play from his dead daddy's book. Of course what he thinks about the most is Spock and Nyota. He's pretty sure at some point he feels Nyota’s lips on his but that must be some death induced hallucination.

He mostly thought that because before that Spock mentioned that he loves him and Nyota talked about all the dirty things that she wanted to watch him and Spock do together. So apparently his version of post life reality involved him having crazy fantasies about things that will never ever happen (especially because he was now dead and because of what he did, they were thankfully not). That makes sense because it’s his life.

Except this was not his post life reality, because he was not dead. He realized that when he woke up to Bones being his regular sarcastic self. He’s never been so happy to hear his friend’s grumblings. He’s happy to be alive even if he is worried about the consequences of using the blood of a megalomaniac to bring him back.

Of course, he was very happy that Spock was there when he wakes up. (Honestly, he’s happiest about actually waking up.) He wanted to kiss Spock but he did not. He didn’t want to give Bones a heart attack.

Okay, that was a lie. Jim was sure that everything that happened between losing consciousness (dying) in the warp core and waking up was just some delusional figment of his imagination. There was no way that Spock was in love with him and Nyota would try making out with him just to get him to wake up. No, it was just all a crazy delusion even if he swore he could taste the strawberry on her lips. Yes, even though he survived death he's too much of a coward to do anything as stupid as stretching out his hand and wrapping it around Spock’s fingers. (Jim kind of remembered somebody holding his hands a lot during his not-a-death but there's no way that could be Spock.)

Some would argue that you should not waste a second chance. However, Jim decided that this time around he wasn’t going to be so reckless. He was going to think before acting and in this case that meant not making out human or Vulcan style with the guy that he was sort of (definitely) in love with who is not available. (Okay, yes he really was a coward).

After about two hours, Bones somehow managed to kick Spock out to run a bunch of tests that Jim really doesn't want to think about. Also, he was so not looking forward to the mandatory psych evaluation for almost dying in the line of duty (mostly because from their five-minute meeting, he discovered that the guy doing it, Dr. Soren, was Jim’s former half Betazoid ‘hook up’ that pretty much told Jim that he really needed to see professional help and that was before dying).

Spock told him in a very Spock way that as far Starfleet was concerned Jim’s over exposure to radiation was triggered by a faulty radiation suit and not by being an idiot and you know, actually dying (excluding their new admiral that Spock trusts implicitly). Jim would really love to know why his very Vulcan first officer lied through his teeth to Starfleet but he’s kind of afraid of the answer (okay, maybe he’s afraid that the answer would give him some sort of hope that he’s trying not to have right now).

At some point he fell asleep, which is pretty funny considering he’s been essentially asleep for the last 14 days. During that blissfully wonderful place between dream and sleep he thought that he saw Spock at his bedside holding his hand with Nyota on the other side but obviously he was dreaming or stone. Considering he died 14 days ago, Jim is going to go with stone. Everything he was seeing had to be a drug-induced hallucination.

When he woke up Nyota was there, which would surprise him more if his scary nurse didn’t mention that Nyota and Spock were there a lot when he was unconscious. Okay, they were there so much that the scary nurse thought that he was dating one or both (he may have risen from the dead but the ideal of dating both Spock and Nyota was too far-fetched for even him).

He didn’t ask where Spock was because he was afraid of the answer and maybe a little terrified of her reaction to him asking that question. Jim was not going to do anything to mess this up (whatever this was). He told himself it was because they’re both his friends and he will not do anything that would screw up that type of friendship (like pushing either of them up against the nearest flat surface and fucking him or her senseless.)

He was happy that she was there mostly because she brought him good food. Granted, he can’t eat anything more hard-hitting than broth and rice but at least it’s real broth and not out of a replicator. She also brought him real old-school books and his PADD loaded with movies. Conveniently, anything involving government conspiracies, cities getting blown up, and the hero dying to save the day are conveniently removed from his collection, even the pre-warp stuff that requires subtitles. He’s pretty much left with the romantic comedies that he refuses to admit that he has and the Disney films that he claims he only downloaded for those miraculous times when Bones’ ex-wife lets his daughter spend the weekend despite the court order. For some reason his extensive porn collection was still there (if he’s going to follow his number one rule of not fucking the crew he needs something) but considering he was informed by his favorite grumpy doctor that he wasn’t allowed to do anything more strenuous than physical therapy for the next month he wasn’t going to be accessing those files anytime soon.

Just like Spock yesterday, Nyota would not talk about anything related to why Jim will be stuck in this hospital for the next week, why he ended up being acting captain of Enterprise after his massive fuck up or why Mrs. Pike is now their new admiral, the reason why San Francisco is still under a state of emergency 14 days later, and the casualties on Enterprise. Because they were also trying to avoid the Spock shaped elephant in the room there really was not that much he and Nyota could talk about except for their love of pre-warp earth poetry and music. He got her to listen to the Beastie Boys and she has filled up his personal PADD with files from Pink, Bruno Mars, and various boy bands that he doesn’t admit listening to and refers to as music to cry or get laid by.

Because they were pretty much avoiding talking about anything of importance they ended up watching a modern remake of an adaptation of the Taming of the Shrew. The difference was this version did not require subtitles and everybody was of different planets of origin except for the sisters. Both he and Nyota thought it would just be easier if Bianca just went with both guys until they realize that the other guy was a complete ass.

“You remind me a lot of Kat,” Nyota said, grabbing a handful of the salt free, fake butter free, flavor free popcorn that his evil doctor so graciously let him eat. “Except you simultaneously screw around with everybody, while keeping everybody at arm’s length. When you think about it, it’s the same thing. ”

“I’m not a slut,” Jim said defensively. “It’s like that old song you gave me ‘I’m not a player, I just fuck a lot’.” He said translating the lyric into standard. He smirked at her for emphasis.

“I should have never sent you that song as a joke,” Nyota said with a sigh. “I’m not saying that you’re a slut. I know you’re not. I’m saying you never let your bedroom partners really get close to you. Also you are non-discriminating.”

“Just because I don’t care about stupid things like gender or planet of origin doesn’t mean I don’t have standards. I have all these rules. I don’t fuck my crew. I don’t sleep with people who are in relationships. I ‘dated’ a married woman one time and well it just ended up with broken bones. Although in my defense, I didn’t know she was married.” He was expecting Nyota to start laughing at him. That didn’t happen.

“And what if both parties are interested in dating you?” Nyota asked. This almost caused him to choke on his popcorn. For the sake of his own sanity, he’s going to assume this was a purely hypothetical question. There was no way that question meant what he wanted that question to mean.

“I’ve done threesomes, recently.” He actually winked at her when he added the last part, as he deliberately chose to focus on the just sex aspect of something like that. He wasn’t going to touch the R word. “But usually it is not with two people who are in love with each other. Maybe if it was two people that I actually trust but considering I don’t fuck my friends, that probably is never going to happen.”

“I have a feeling there’s a story there.” She said grabbing his hand. Her touch seemed oddly familiar. At least she didn’t mention that he deliberately misinterpreted her question.

“You know I’m good at learning from my own mistakes. From sixth grade until we both did something really stupid at 17, I had this best friend named Natalia. We were pretty much inseparable despite me getting shipped off halfway across the galaxy when my mom pissed off the wrong Admiral and I got thrown into the system after everything went really bad,” Jim started before he told her the whole insane story. Nyota knew some of the details regarding what happened on the planet of the damned before this conversation. That stuff came out when Jim explained why she laid untouched after the drunk breakup fiasco incident. The only person who knew more about Tarsus was Spock. (Bones only knew what was in his medical file and most of that was redacted.) However, he never talked about losing his childhood friend before.

“So that explains why you have been in denial about your Spock related feelings for the last year.” Nyota told him after he was done speaking.

“Shit,” Jim exclaimed under his breath. He didn’t think his Spock crush behavior was that obvious. Apparently, he was wrong. It wasn’t what Nyota said but the way she said it that was the most surprising of all. There wasn’t an ounce of malice in her words. Although, maybe she was taking emotion suppression lessons from her boyfriend and would strangle him at any moment for kind of, sort of, being in love with her boyfriend.

“Are you going to smother me with a pillow now?” He asked as he paused the film. This discussion was too serious to have the movie going on in the background.

“Okay, I’m going to take that as ‘yes, I’m completely in love with your boyfriend but to terrified to make an actual move’,” she said, smirking. Why was she smirking? She was going to kill him. “Jim, it was a little obvious. I’m pretty sure we’ve both been dating Spock for the last six months at least.”

“You’re scaring me. Shouldn’t you be yelling or throwing things? Are you only being nice to me because I’m still in the hospital?” he asked after a moment, because that was the only logical explanation for her not screaming at him.

“You know, it surprises me how much you and Spock are alike sometimes. Spock expected me to act the same way.  I’m trying to be incredibly mature about this. You are completely in love with my boyfriend. I get that,” she said as she still held his hand.

“I’m not in love. I don’t do love,” Jim wasn’t sure he was telling that to her or to himself. It was a lie regardless, the first part anyway.

“So what was the real reason you wouldn’t let Spock die in that volcano?” She asked looking him directly in the eye, as if trying to read all the things that Jim kept hidden. She knew.

“Shit,” he said in a whisper. “You must hate me.”

“If I hated you, I wouldn’t be watching questionable Shakespeare adaptations as our boyfriend deals with another round of 20 questions with the admiralty. The original was so much better. Why do they remake everything?” Again, her demeanor was not angry but more playful.

“This isn’t necessarily worse than the original, just different. Wait; did you say ‘our boyfriend’?” Jim asked tentatively.

“I don’t know if you realize this but you have kind of been dating him since you guys began your middle of the night get-togethers the second week we were in space.” If it was anyone else, he would deny it but she was right. Looking back on it now he did behave like Spock’s boyfriend. “Remember that last treaty we negotiated. The entire time you were leaning over to whisper and Spock’s ears every 30 seconds.”

“I did not act like that,” Jim told her defensively.

“Yes you did and everybody but you and Spock noticed it. I’m sure there’s a video file of it somewhere. Every single member of the other side asked me if you two were married or dating,” she told him in all seriousness.

“If it was that obvious, why didn’t you say anything?”

“Why didn’t you?” she asked in response.

“You know it’s a bad sign when you answer a question with a question.”

“Probably,” she shrugged.

“I don’t fuck my friends literally or figuratively. I really do like you. I wasn’t going to screw up your relationship with Spock. It was just better for everybody if I keep my mouth shut,” he told her honestly.

“Except for that one time when you were drunk.” He decided that it was in his best interest for her to never find out that he was actually sober when he jokingly propositioned her boyfriend for a threesome.

“He told you about that?” he asked instead.

“Yes, and I’m not sure which one of the three of us was more in denial but I’m going with myself. I could see what was going on. I have for months. I just didn’t want to deal with figuring out what to do about it. Just so you know, it’s not one-sided, Spock is kind of in love with you.” He was very thankful that he wasn’t eating the popcorn anymore because he really would have choked that time.

“What’s different now?” Jim asked, avoiding any reference to her last statement. Jim just doesn’t believe her.

“You died. I watched you die and then I watched Spock go off the deep end because you died. There’s nothing worse than realizing how you feel about somebody as the object of your affection takes his last breath. I can’t keep quiet anymore.” Nyota said as she shut her eyes.

“You mean him actually crying,” Jim said sardonically as Nyota stared at him darkly.

“No, I mean Spock trying to kill he that will not be named with his bare hands and the only reason why he didn’t do it was because I somehow managed to convey to him that we needed him alive. Not that Spock remembers actually doing it.” That part was mumbled under breath. This does not surprise Jim because he vaguely remembers hearing Spock say something about that during his not-a-death, but he thought he just imagined it.

“What?” Jim asked more for clarification than anything else.

“There’s a reason why they’re making you meet with a certain psychologist that specializes in telepathic bonds despite your objections and past ‘relationship’. Spock doesn’t remember a thing between you dying and you coming back to life. Because of that they are suspicious. Apparently, these rooms are miked for sound and Leonard heard the interesting parts of our private conversations.” Again, Jim vaguely remembered this.

“While I was out, I kind of remember certain things but I thought I was dreaming. Did you kiss me?” Jim asked still surprised.

“It was 13 days at that point and we were all getting a little desperate and I decided to take the sleeping beauty approach,” she said sheepishly.

“I thought I was imagining that,” he whispered.

“You remember that?” she asked, smirking.

“I think. Did you actually suggest that Spock date both of us?” Jim asked tentatively, sure that part was some crazy hallucinations/wishful thinking on his part.

“I think I have already stated you and Spock have been dating for months. I just told Spock it’s okay if you added a sexual component to the relationship, as long as I get to watch or participate sometimes. I kind of like you. You grow on a person. Also, I think you heard him say that he loved you a few minutes earlier.” She wasn’t joking even if she tried to make it sound that way.

“See that entire part of the conversation was why I thought the whole thing was some death induced fantasy. I thought that was my version of paradise,” he told her, and she just gave him a sad smile.

“I believe your hypothesis is erroneous, Jim.” Jim would recognize that voice anywhere even if the speaker was a good century and a half older. When Spock said his name like that, it resulted in most blood going south. Before he had time to think, Spock’s lips were on his. He did not think a kiss could be like this, it was all fire and passion. He was gasping for air but didn’t want to break apart until he had no choice but to. He looked up to see Nyota with an all too smug expression on her face.

 “I told you he was in love with you,” Nyota said smirking.

“Apparently,” Jim said in a whisper as Spock’s hand snaked around his. This gesture felt just as intimate as the kiss before. “You’re okay with me making out with your boyfriend?” Nyota’s response was to lean in and kiss him as well. She tasted of the popcorn and the diet strawberry soda she was drinking during their movie marathon. It was softer, but still intense.

“If I wasn’t okay with it, I wouldn’t have done that,” she said, pulling away just as Spock placed his fingers to his lips. They were both going to kill him or maybe he was still dead. This type of stuff only happened in his private time fantasies.

“I don’t do relationships. I don’t fall in love,” he said, looking at both with hooded eyes.

“Yeah, well, you don’t come back from the dead and you’ve already done that. Why stop there. You don’t follow Starfleet’s rules. Why should you follow your own?” Bones stated from the door.

“You know that eavesdropping is a bad thing?” Nyota asked with annoyance.

“Not when I’m his damn doctor. You made his heart rate go skyhigh and I needed to see what was going on. I will kick you both out again, if you don’t keep your hands off your boyfriend,” Jim did not find the doctor’s words as strange as he should have. He would never be one for monogamy but this really wasn’t monogamy.

“Fine, we promise to behave,” Jim said, smirking.

“I don’t trust you,” Bones said dubiously. 

“Nothing inappropriate will happen with the captain,” Spock said, trying to reassure him.

“I don’t trust you either. It’s always the quiet ones and your judgment is never the best when he is concerned,” Bones said staring him down.

“We won’t do anything to jeopardize Jim’s health,” Nyota chimed in.

 “I’m sure you will,” Bones said still rolling his eyes.  “Light i.e. chase kisses are fine, but no sex by any definition of the term for at least 8 to 10 weeks,” Bones barked out before he started to run more scans.

“I hate you,” Jim spat out sarcastically. The only thing that made Jim feel slightly better was his boyfriend and girlfriend looked equally irritated; more importantly, he really did like the sound of that and the concept wasn’t as scary as he thought it would be. Maybe he could do this, maybe.

The end

(or maybe this is just the beginning.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be continued in The Genius Repeat Offender’s Guide to dating your first officer and communications officer simultaneously (or something along those lines).  
> For those of you following the story on FF .net, I will be posting it as a continuation of the story.  
> Summary: When it comes to dating Jim has no idea what he’s doing, but that’s never stopped him before.   
> Look for it sometime in August (maybe September). 
> 
> I need to work on my other stories. Remember, if you loved Dear Spock and this story please check out Dear James.  
> In the meantime provide me with your suggestions for relationship problems as well as your positive or redirected feedback.

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be my post Into Darkness dabble. Yet, it ended up well over 3000 words and I think this has the potential to be at least a three shot instead of a one shot. Considering I wrote a 55,000 word + 5+1 I’m not that surprised.  
> Let me know if you want more.  
> *Song reference was True Love by Pink  
> Lyric excerpt:  
> At the same time, I wanna hug you  
> I wanna wrap my hands around your neck  
> You're an asshole but I love you  
> And you make me so mad I ask myself  
> Why I'm still here, or where could I go  
> You're the only love I've ever known  
> But I hate you, I really hate you,  
> So much, I think it must be  
> True love, true love


End file.
